New agreement between the UK and France to step up patrols and intelligence operations in France to reduce illegal crossings

Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nunez
Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nunez

The United Kingdom and France today signed an agreement to strengthen operations to combat illegal migration in northern France to prevent crossings to the United Kingdom with a significant increase in dedicated human, technological and intelligence resources.

Since the 2024 UK election, work between the UK and France has prevented more than 42,000 illegal migrants from crossing the Channel. The joint action also led to the arrest of 480 smugglers in 2025. 

The new partnership will build on these encouraging results to reduce the number of illegal Channel crossings.

Under the new partnership, £500 million (€580 million) will be invested to strengthen the control system in northern France and a further £161 million (€187 million) will fund new actions based on their impact on crossing prevention.  If these new measures do not yield sufficient results, on the basis of a joint annual evaluation, funding will be redirected to new actions. 

This new partnership includes:

These measures are complemented by the desire to combat the phenomenon of illegal immigration to the United Kingdom upstream, by strengthening joint actions in countries of origin and transit.

As the Channel is an external border of the European Union, the partnership between the United Kingdom and France is part of a broader European cooperation that both countries wish to strengthen.

Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said:

 French Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nunez, said:

This partnership complements the important reforms undertaken by the UK government to reduce the pull factors that push irregular migrants across the Channel and to intensify the expulsion of irregular foreign nationals from British territory.

Nearly 60,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals have been sent back or deported since this UK government came to power, an increase of 31%.

Immigration control measures to combat illegal working have reached levels unprecedented in British history, with an 83% increase in arrests and a 77% increase in police interventions under this government.

The UK government is also closing all reception hotels for asylum seekers and transferring them to accommodation centres, especially those on former military sites.